372 LINNJEUS. 



upon the face itself bear a comparison with this 

 lovely blossom. As I contemplated it^ I could not 

 help thinking of Andromeda as described by the 

 poets; and the more I meditated upon their de- 

 scriptions^ the more applicable they seemed to the 

 little plant before me ; so that, if these writers had 

 iiad it in view, they could scarcely have contrived 

 a more apposite fable. Andromeda is represented 

 by them as a virgin of most exquisite and unri- 

 valled charms ; but these charms remain in perfec- 

 tion only so long as she retains her virgin purity, 

 which is also applicable to the plant, now preparing 

 to celebrate its nuptials. This plant is always fixed 

 on some little turfy hillock in the midst of the 

 swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained to a 

 rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as the fresh 

 water does the roots of the plant. Dragons and ve- 

 nomous serpents surrounded her, as toads and other 

 reptiles frequent the abode of her vegetable proto- 

 type, and, when they pair in the spring, throw mud 

 and water over its leaves and branches. As the dis- 

 tressed virgin cast down her blushing face through 

 excessive affliction, so does the rosy-coloured flower 

 hang its head, growing paler and paler till it withers 

 away. Hence, as this plant forms a new genus, I 

 have chosen for it the name of Andromeda." 



" Botany may he compared to one of those plants 

 which flower only once in a century. It first put 

 forth some seed-leaves in the reign of Alexander. 

 After the war of IMithridates, the victorious Romans 

 transported it to Rome, when the root-leaves began 

 to appear. Receiving no further cultivation, it 

 ceased to grow. It was next carried from Italy to 

 Arabia, where it remained until the twelfth century. 



